Eating on a budget in Italy

We were in Italy in May and June of this year. Of course Italy is considered expensive, especially with the weak dollar.

Breakfast was always included in our room charge, so that helped.

We'd usually have pizza or sandwiches once a day, not to save money but because we liked it and craved it.

Then we'd have one nicer meal each day, each of us generally picking either an item from the antipasto list or a pasta, plus a meat and one vegetable, like roasted potatoes. The ladies occasionally just ate a salad for some unknown reason. We always had wine with these meals and the meals cost us $20 to $25 each. That's more than we usually spend per day at home, but even here in Jonesboro Arkansas a meal at the best Italian restaurant in town costs us $50/person, so compared to that Italy was cheap!

You make your own by shopping the markets in the morning. If you have an apartment with stove, and frig; its more involved, and you have many options, but you can always make some really nice stuff to eat by picking picnic type foods. Cheeses and cured meats will hold well if you wrap them in soaked towels to evaporate and cool so they don't bleed out. The bread will normally be hard. There is no magic pill for the restaurants less we know were you are going to. Then there ARE local places that are inexpensive that the locals eat out at.

We had our own appartment with kitchen facilities, that certainly helps. Even better, there was a traditional stone oven in the yard so we could make real pizza that was done super fast (after spending an hour stoking the oven) but most certainly not "fast food". And it was a really fun activity.

Oh My Gosh Beatrix, that pizza looks soooo good!

"Then there ARE local places that are inexpensive that the locals eat out at."

Sure, but I think there's a bit of a myth about these places. I've been to plenty of restaurants in Italy where we were the only foreigners in there, and it still cost $17 dollars or more/person for a good meal.

Unless there's some hidden price list for locals, I don't think budget travelers should expect to find secret places where locals are eating great meals with pasta, meat, vegetables and wine for $8. To get meals in that price range I think you're talking about the pizza and other fast food Thomas mentions.

Now I'm getting hungry talking like this. Can't wait to go back to Italy!

Yes, Susan, that pizza was very yummy ;-) Well, aside from the first one which turned out rather blackish - we left it in for 3 minutes but the pizzas were done within 90 seconds ...

For me travelling is not just about taking photos of special landmarks but also going for some new experiences as a family. In our case pretty much 90% of our travel on any continent is done to meet family. That pizza was quite a production: my sister-in-law and me made the dough using an empty wine bottle to measure liquids and roll the dough, the kids put the toppings on, my brother stoked the oven. In 30 C heat!

There are places that are not so secret. They are just not downtown or near a tourist area. In Rome we had WONDERFUL traditional food, more than we could eat every other night at 9 Euros each and that included endless house wine.

Gee, I just can't remember where it was...... :)

I loved reading your pizza making story Beatrix. I'd love to hear more! I wish this Helpline had a section where people could tell stories like this.

There are many "inexpensive" places to eat in Rome, but they will not be where most tourists stay or walk. We eat out often and usually pay €15-20 per person for a multi-course meal with wine. water and coffee.

Locals DO pay a different price - or receive different foods. We're regarded as "locals" in many restaurants in our neighborhood so we often get "free" antipasti, dolce, and almost always an aperitivo. When I would head across the street to my "bar" for coffee in the morning I always paid 80 cents, the price on the wall. Then one day, after a month, the owner said 60 cents... and since then I've always paid 60 cents... so it is a little cheaper to live here when you are known. For more info on the types of restaurants in Rome, CLICK HERE

Ron in Rome

"There are many "inexpensive" places to eat in Rome...We eat out often and usually pay €15-20 per person..."

Glad you put inexpensive in quotes!

Yes, I did notice in some of the places we ate in Tuscany there would be big local families eating at long tables, you could see 4 or 5 generations, and they usually were eating huge spreads of great looking foods that weren't even on the menus we were handed.

I've seen that on the Anthony Bourdain show too. In San Francisco he goes with a Chinatown native to a local Chinese restaurant, and they show how all the neighborhood people were eating things different from what's on the menu for the "outsiders".

Anthony's host said he never eats what the tourists call Chinese food. The locals are eating things the tourists would never want, things like chicken feet, tripe, and other "innards" not on the standard western diet.

I suspect there's a bit of that in Italy too, that locals eat some things they were raised on that tourists wouldn't take if it were offered.

We probably eat some things here in Arkansas that the rest of you wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole!

Well, we apparently did OK on price according to these posts, but $25-30 per evening meal x 3 adds up fast. So, a solution is an apartment and cook. That is OK if you have plenty of time, but cooking and shopping is something we want to get away from when we travel. So, it's just going to be expensive -- and speaking of expensive, our son who went with us to Italy is now in college -- so it is going to be a while before our money goes anywhere but to the registrar! It is twice as expensive as when our daughter went 10 years ago.

Being from Maryland, and living in Oregon, I can say that people in the Pacific Northwest have NO understanding of how to cook a bunch of crab. "Vinegar? Old Bay,.. Whats that?"

They're like cavemen out here.

That said, get outside your safety zone of what to eat.

Being from Texas, you were born with the ability to pan fry Everything and Anything found at market! It is in your nature to do so,... with a little Sage of course. :)

One thing we have noticed in Florence this year with the recession is some better lunch deals. At Caffe Italia near Piazza Santa Croce they have a special lunch - water, bread, primo, wine and coffee - for euro 5.70. May be one of the best deals in the city. Also a lot of what look like bars may have a dining room you don't see from the street, and you can get a pasta plate for 5 or 6 euro.

There is also a 3 course lunch at Trattoria Anita for 8 or 9 euro - not sure of the exact price - but we get 2 lunches and a liter of water for 18 euro. This is a first, second, side and bread - you will be stuffed :)

Eating well inexpensively is not too difficult. Breakfast is usually included with the room. We would grab a slice or two of pizza or go into a place and have them make us a pannino (sandwich). Menus are almost always posted outside of the restaurants for comparison. Also, many restaurants feature a tourist menu offering 3 courses for a set price. You do not need to eat in the temples of gastronomy to eat well in Italy.

Buon viaggio,

RB

Don't underestimate the panini sandwiches from local bars/ cafes - my friends and I still remember the excellent fresh mozzarella and tomato filling in the panini we had years ago. Going to the local market or supermarket to get supplies is a great way to see more of Italian everyday culture - after all, food is such a huge part of the Italian way of life! Then there are some 'tavola calda' which serve cheap hot food. There was a fridge in the room of my B&B in Siena when I went this year, so I stocked up on fresh fruit, cheese etc and saved on a couple of meals. In Venice, I thoroughly enjoyed a meal at a Turkish/Middle-Eastern restaurant called Frary's, in front of I Frari Church which offered set lunches from 12 or 15 Euro. A cup of coffee in neighbourhood bars can be slightly cheaper than in bars located in tourist hot spots, and sometimes they don't charge you a different price if you sit at a table. Sometimes finding a good, reasonably priced meal is a matter of walking just a street or two away from the main tourist drag - and I found that this was true in Paris too.

Just got back from two weeks in Florence. Food was very cheap because we have it figured out.
In Florence, eat at Leonardo's.
Rick has it a little wrong - sorry Rick - about the conti breakfast that may be included with the hotel, Hotel Maxim in Florence and Hotel Athena in Siena have great breakfasts. Its MUCH cheaper to get a hotel with the breakfast and then fill that out with shopping at the local markets for lunch/dinner.

We did two weeks, two people, with rental motorcycle, and two locations, Florence and Siena this time, all for under 3700 dollars total. And it was an amazing trip with day visits to Lucca, Prato and riding to the hill towns South of Siena. Our most expensive meal was at the Capitain in Siena for 38 Euros total, Prima plates that filled us up, including 1/2 liter wine plus water with gas... a wonderful place where the locals mostly eat.